A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu’s battle with The Inn’s Earth-ranked attendant ultimately ended with him resorting to his Shaman lineage.

He had a partial Golden Body Transformation on his left hand. Combining the strength of a Martial Arts Practitioner and the innate qi of a Rogue Cultivator with his golden hand, he forcibly grabbed the Earth-ranked attendant’s sword. Though he could not break it, he managed to hold it, then used his right hand to sever the man’s sword-wielding arm. After all, the Earth-rank attendant only wore a cuirass that protected the torso but had no shoulder guards.

One misstep led to another. After losing his arm, the Earth-ranked attendant could no longer match Qi Xuansu. When he tried to turn and flee, Qi Xuansu seized the opportunity and decapitated him.

Qi Xuansu did not use the mystical abilities in the Spiritual Body Realm because of divine power.

In the Daoist Order, divine power and incense power were measured in marks. This unit originated from vessels designed to store divine power. Roughly 3 marks of incense power could be refined into 1 mark of divine power. A fourth-rank Shaman could receive 100 marks of divine power monthly, while a fourth-rank Spirit Guard consumed 30 marks per month during non-war times.

Zhang Wuhen’s vessel—the amber-looking Xuan Jade—contained tens of thousands of marks of divine power. Most of it was absorbed by her during her resurrection, body reconstruction, and the battle with Sun Hewu, who had drawn upon the power of the Seven Star Net Formation. But in her haste, Zhang Wuhen did not absorb it all. Many fragments drifted away and ultimately fell into Qi Xuansu’s hands, which amounted to about 2,000 marks.

Of that, 1,000 marks were used by Qi Xuansu to complete his Shaman lineage and advance to become a Heavenly Being. Normally, 1,000 marks of divine power would not be enough to achieve this, but since he had already reached the ninth level of the Guizhen stage, he was only a step away from becoming a Heavenly Being and did not need much more divine power.

Qi Xuansu stored the remaining 1,000 marks for emergencies. He could only produce 3 marks per day himself, which was barely enough for daily needs, leaving him in a constant deficit. He could not forgo his stipend to claim more divine power either. Last time, manifesting his Spiritual Body in the battle against Gan Longchi and repairing it afterward cost him nearly 100 marks. Naturally, he now needed to conserve it carefully.

He had originally planned to strip the dead man’s cuirass, take his sword, and search for any magical receptacles. But the circumstances changed too quickly.

Another Earth-ranked attendant temporarily abandoned the Heaven-ranked attendant’s physical body and flew toward Qi Xuansu, clearly intending to take his life.

Qi Xuansu had no choice but to abandon his loot and retreat swiftly.

After a brief recovery, the eight B-rank members took to the skies together to help Saintly Peace hold off The Innkeeper, allowing him to focus on fighting the Cook without being flanked.

Although The Innkeeper was a Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being, excluding factors like strategy, terrain, or external objects, three Wuliang-stage Heavenly Beings could match one Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being, and three Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Beings could match one Wuliang-stage Heavenly Being. In other words, nine Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Beings could hold off one Zaohua-stage opponent. Moreover, The Innkeeper had lost an arm to Saintly Peace’s Sword of Dao, reducing his strength greatly. Facing the attack of eight Heavenly Beings in unison, he could not gain the upper hand.

Including Qi Xuansu, there were exactly nine Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Beings. This was no coincidence, but part of the Qingping Society’s plan. Nine Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Beings could match one Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being. Dreaming Cloud and Ceremony Prelude were both in the Wuliang stage. They also had a semi-immortal object, so they roughly equaled another Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being. Saintly Peace was in the Zaohua stage, so they collectively had the power of three Zaohua-stage Heavenly Beings, on par with The Inn. The Inn’s only real advantage was its three Earth-ranked attendants.

Of these three Earth-ranked attendants, two were Heavenly Beings, and one was at the ninth level of the Guizhen stage. Now, one had been slain by Qi Xuansu, another had abandoned his guard duty to pursue Qi Xuansu, and only the Guizhen-stage attendant remained to guard the Heaven-ranked member.

Since arriving in the Imperial Capital, Qi Xuansu had encountered more Heavenly Beings than he had in the past two decades of his life.

First, his cultivation level and status had risen. Just as ordinary folk might never meet a top-ranked official in their lifetime, once one became a top official, meeting others of the same rank would become routine.

After becoming a Heavenly Being and a high-ranking Daoist, Qi Xuansu was now exposed to the kinds of figures he once looked up to. His adversaries had also risen in caliber. Common Xiantian Beings, like Li Sanxin, who once fought him over the Xuan Jade in Fengtai County, were no longer worthy opponents.

Second, the Imperial Capital was said to have more Heavenly Beings than anywhere else, even surpassing Jade Capital, and it truly lived up to its name.

Third, Qi Xuansu had caught one of those rare secret society wars that might only occur once every decade or two. Qingping Society and The Inn had sent out their elites, with high-ranking members taking the field themselves. It had the scale and intensity of an extermination war against a secret society, so involving Heavenly Beings was only natural. Ordinary Xiantian Beings were not even qualified to participate.

The Earth-ranked and Heaven-ranked attendants of The Inn would have been legendary figures in Jianghu, like Feng Bo or Marshal Thunder. But here, Qi Xuansu did not even know their names. They died just like that.

Of course, his opponents also did not know that he was the infamous Superintendent Qi. They would not have cared about his death either.

Just as Qi Xuansu was dodging the Heavenly-Being Earth-ranked attendant and eyeing the Guizhen-stage Earth-ranked attendant nearby, a thunderous boom echoed across heaven and earth. It could be heard even from Qingyuan County, dozens of kilometers away, startling countless people from their sleep who mistook it for midsummer thunder.

In truth, it was Saintly Peace and the Cook exchanging a direct, full-force blow.

Though Saintly Peace had been afflicted by the Imitation Shebishi Venom, he forcibly suppressed its spread using the Xuanwei Method. In that brief window, he even advanced further, becoming what Madam Qi would have called “Half-Step Pseudo-Immortal” and putting the Cook at a disadvantage.

The Cook’s Nether Blade was also a semi-immortal object, but its lethal point was in the Imitation Shebishi Venom. In direct combat, it held no real advantage. It would be like if Yao Pei did not use the time-bending intricacies of the Staff of Merit and instead used it as a blunt weapon. Naturally, it was inferior to the Thunder Chisel.

As a result, the Cook was struck down by Saintly Peace, crashing into the ground and creating a bottomless crater.

Saintly Peace let out a long howl—the signal to retreat.

At that moment, The Innkeeper, entangled with eight Heavenly Beings, disregarded the cost of divine power and reformed his arm in a blaze of golden light, throwing a powerful punch.

This punch cost nearly 1,000 marks of divine power. Gradual restoration of a Spiritual Body would only require a bit over 100 marks, but instant repair demanded ten times the price. Only someone like The Innkeeper could afford such extravagance.

With his Spiritual Body restored, The Innkeeper gained the upper hand against the eight Heavenly Beings. Midway through the punch, ripples spread as a portal materialized out of thin air, into which his fist plunged.

At the same time, an identical portal opened above Saintly Peace’s head. The Innkeeper’s punch emerged from it, descending from the sky.

If struck head-on by this punch, Saintly Peace would likely be done for, meeting the same fate as Drenched Green Robes.

Saintly Peace understood this and had no choice but to resort to his most well-guarded life-saving technique.

Golden light burst forth from Saintly Peace’s body and transformed into a light pillar that shot into the sky, halting the descending punch for the moment.

Taking advantage of the moment, Saintly Peace shot away like a rainbow across the sky.

Moments later, the golden light dispersed, and the punch crashed into the ground with a thunderous shockwave. A massive crater was left behind, deep enough to become a lake in time.

Meanwhile, Qingping Society’s eight B-rank members seized the moment to unleash their own escape techniques, scattering in all directions. They did not want to wait for The Innkeeper or the Cook to chase them, nor wait for The Inn’s reinforcements to arrive.

Elsewhere, as Saintly Peace faced danger, Dreaming Cloud used Thunder Chisel to momentarily drive the Runner into retreat. Then, Thunder Chisel began spinning on its own, generating a lightning spiral over 30 meters long that encircled Dreaming Cloud as it shot sideways like a thunderbolt toward The Innkeeper.

As soon as Thunder Chisel struck The Innkeeper’s Spiritual Body, golden light erupted, and countless arcs of lightning scattered in all directions.

The Innkeeper had no choice but to first deal with Dreaming Cloud.

With a sonic boom, a giant golden finger shot toward Dreaming Cloud, who collided head-on with it. Dreaming Cloud used the force of the impact to launch himself away like a cannonball.

Ceremony Prelude did the same. After receiving Saintly Peace’s retreat signal, she recalled her yin spirit back into her body. Fortunately, she held a slight advantage in the duel earlier. Though she could not defeat the Heaven-ranked attendant, it was her choice whether to fight or flee.

As all the Qingping Society members began to retreat, Qi Xuansu did not stay behind to watch the show, nor would he foolishly wait for The Inn to capture him. In fact, he reacted with great speed, faster than his fellow B-rank members.

Though not particularly glorious, Qi Xuansu was indeed well-versed in the art of escape. It was almost second nature to him. In the past, he had fled twice from Feng Bo and, more recently, from the seven Heavenly Beings of the Tianchen Division, who failed to catch him.

As Ceremony Prelude was retreating, she had intended to call out to Gold-Plated Knife, fearing the new recruit might be too reckless. But when she looked up, he was already gone.

Almost at the same time that Saintly Peace let out his long howl, Qi Xuansu, aided by the Demonic Blade’s instincts, turned and left without hesitation. He even spent a bit of divine power to transform into his Taiyin Spiritual Body, escaping as a streak of moonlight for a stretch to ensure his whereabouts remained hidden.

Fortunately, this place was not far from the Imperial Capital. As long as Qi Xuansu returned to Yuhuang Palace, he would be safe and sound.